|
THE BUDDHA FROM BROOKLYN -- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS |
|
It is a courageous thing to sit down with a writer and allow her to tell your story for you. It becomes more courageous when you realize, midway, that your story is not going to be all that flattering in places. For their stoutheartedness and lack of vanity I would like to thank Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo and the monks and nuns and lay practitioners of Kunzang Palyul Choling--both past and present. They were never anything but kind and generous to me, despite all my arrogance and egotism and fear. I hope they will understand why this book became what it did. I would also like to thank His Holiness Penor Rinpoche for spending time with me and for giving me advice and guidance when I asked for it. And for finally saying, "You need to stop talking to people and just write." Who should I thank next--the people who loved me, the ones who inspired me, those who fed me, or the people who actually paid me money to write this book? In the order of hours spent resuscitating my tired spirit, I would like to thank my indulgent and understanding husband, Bill Powers; my irrepressible cousin, Leslee Peyton Sherrill; my wonderful literary agent, Flip Brophy: and my most enthusiastic fan and father, Peter Sherrill, who clapped so hard and so often for me while he was alive that I can still hear him. I would also like to express unending thanks to Joel Achenbach, Bob Barkin, Tess Batac, Ron Bernstein, Geraldine Brooks, Richard Ben Cramer, Susan Davis, Marydale DeBor, David Del Tredici, Amy Dickinson, J. D. Dolan, Barbara Feinman, Marc Feldman, Rose Jean Goddard, Larry Hass, Tony Horwitz, Tammy Jones, Laura Marmor, Billy McClain, Jeanne McManus, Danielle Mirabella, Lou-Ann Nixon, Mary Powers, Bob Rosenblatt, Sally Quinn, Jack Sharer, Anina Sherrill, Marilyn Sherrill, Nathaniel Sherrill, Steve Sherrill, Sally Bedell Smith, Lyn Sommer, Milt Spears, Lincoln Spoor, David Stang, Mary Stapp, Lauve Steenhulsen, Elsa Walsh, Mark Warren, and Carolyn White. They gave me good ideas and encouragement--and sometimes a glass of wine--when I most needed it. Writing this book would not have been possible without the magnanimous support of The Washington Post. I have been influenced and inspired by its publishers, Katharine Grahram and Don Graham, and encouraged and rescued by its many talented editors, especially Ben Bradlee, Steve Coll, David De Nicolo, Len Downie, Janet Duckworth, Ellen Edwards, Mary Hadar, Brian Kelly, David Von Drehle, Gene Weingarten, and Bob Woodward. In this book, my descriptions of life in the newsroom should not be read as criticism of the Post in particular. The truth is, a newsroom is a newsroom and people are people, wherever you go. The Virginia Center for the Creative Arts is a magical place where I was able to work on this book--during stays in 1997 and 1999--and also find great camaraderie. I would like to thank the board of directors and benefactors of VCCA for making that possible. Also, I would like to thank John Gregory Brown for bringing me to Sweet Briar College to teach and the winter term class of 1997 for their energy and honesty; I will never forget their stories. I owe a special debt to Martin Wassell, who first told me about Jetsunma and KPC and stuck with me, inspiring me to be fair. It would be hard to find a nobler or more loyal guide into the heart of Tibetan Buddhism in the West. And then there's David Rosenthal, who originally saw a book in my stories about KPC and then promptly, thanks to his good fortune, vanished from sight. Ann Godoff bravely stepped in and gently shepherded me and my enormous herd of characters to the finish. She made this book as fine as it could be, and for this I am forever grateful. -Martha Sherrill
|